Letter To The Editor: House Bill 50

House Bill 50: Relating To Crime; Requiring Criminal Background Checks On Gun Transfers Between Certain Persons; Providing Exceptions; Providing Penalties Khal Spencer’s excellent OpEd on House Bill 50—the proposed background check for all gun sales including online sales and at gun shows—offered statistics and arguments about why we should support a background check bill.

His bottom line? Support a background-check bill—but not this one.

I completely agree with his argument that people murdering other people with guns are part of a culture of violence that will require far more than reducing access to guns. But changing culture is not the point of this bill. Reducing criminal access to guns is the point of this bill. The other? The culture? That takes each of us as individuals to address those issues whenever we meet them.

We all know that a lonely child, an angry child, an abused child can grow up to be a troubled adult who perpetuates anger and abuse. It “takes a village” to care enough to recognize that someone—child or adult—needs attention.

But that’s not what HB50 is about. HB50 is simply a commonsense extension of background checks. HB50 is not about taking away guns or limiting someone from selling or buying a gun. HB50 is simply about waiting a couple days to get your gun, or taking a couple days to ensure whether the person you’re selling to doesn’t have a criminal background.

Remember, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” The latter is what this bill is trying to prevent. Changing the culture is up to us.